Don't call them sister cities, the Oregonian advises. That would denote "members of the nonprofit Sister Cities International." Dull and Boring have a less formal relationship. Basically, they'll be friends and try to raise some money off the unique partnership. They're too different in size to be "sisters." The Independent says "Boring has a population of more than 10,000, to Dull's 84 residents."

How did this come about? The Independent writes that:

"Dull, in Perthshire, and Boring forged an unlikely link when Elizabeth Leighton, who lives in Aberfeldy, near the Scottish village, was on a cycling holiday in the US. She passed through Boring, Ore., and immediately phoned her friend, Emma Burtles, a resident of Dull, with an idea to link the two communities together."

As for how the two communities got their names, the explanations are ... not exciting.

The BBC says that Dull's "is thought to have come from the Gaelic word for meadow, but others have speculated it could be connected to the Gaelic word 'dul' meaning snare." Boring, according to the Oregonian, is named for William H. Boring, an early resident. The newspaper says his great-grandson Bob Boring, 72, was all for the hook-up with Dull. "I think this is fun. Let's do it," he said.